Pilot dies inflight Continental 61

[911Freak]

Fox news reporting pilot dies in-flight?!

How rare is this?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,527076,00.html


Do most international flights have an additional pilot/crew?

[widebody911]

Well, your link is dead...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,527076,00.html

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Linky no worky.

FWIW an airline pilot is required to obtain what's called a "Class I Medical Certificate" from an FAA-designated examiner every six months. There are a lot of reasons a person can blow a medical exam, particularly a Class I. So the FAA does its part here to make sure that the public is protected against the possibility of crewmembers becoming ill or having problems during flight operations.

That said, it's still known to happen on occasion. Sometimes things get missed and as with anything statistical, with a large enough sample size, you'll occasionally get very strange results. This is one of those cases it sounds like.

One reason also most flight operations of this type require two-person crews as a minimum.

I guarantee the Medical Examiner who issued this guy's last Medical Certificate will be getting a visit from the FAA and have his/her life made rather unpleasant for a while until the investigation is completed.

[cgarr]

And that's why anyone who flies with me gets on the fly flight instruction "just in case" plus its more fun for them to be doing something rather than just ride.

[911Freak]

Fixed the link..

Sounds like there was an additional pilot to assist

My wifes father was a Continental Pilot for many years after a distinguished Navy career (retired 10 years ago) he still knows many of the guys at Continental, we're hoping this pilot isn't one of his buddies....

Condolences to his family

[Neilk]

See what happens when they raised the mandatory retirement age to 65!!!!

[911Freak]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Linky no worky.

FWIW an airline pilot is required to obtain what's called a "Class I Medical Certificate" from an FAA-designated examiner every six months.

I guarantee the Medical Examiner who issued this guy's last Medical Certificate will be getting a visit from the FAA and have his/her life made rather unpleasant for a while until the investigation is completed.

Would this exam cover potential Hyper-tension, clogged arteries or other invisible threats that don't show up in normal blood tests?

ie how extensive/intrusive are these exams?

[TerryH]

Looking at the clock, the plane should be on final approach about now. Why the urgency to report this death? I can understand letting the pilot's family know, but why alarm all the families of those still in the air? If it gets to the press a few hours later, would it make any difference? Yes, I realize the plane is in capable hands, but likely many of the families of those up there are worried needlessly.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

A second crew is only on board for long flights that would exceed mandated flight/duty time limits in order for the crew to be adequately rested. These limits virtually never come into play for shorter domestic flights except in the event of delays. Have you ever sat on the tarmac for a long time (usually in the winter months)? Sometimes when you get to your destination the crews have "timed out" and a replacement crew will have to be brought on board to complete the flight from that point to its destination. The first crew is required to be "off duty" for a while until they've rested the required number of hours, at which point they can go back to work and fly another leg (or series of legs). These requirements and the unforeseen variability of weather conditions make life very interesting for airline operations guys - they need to constantly juggle these situations to keep the airline in compliance - it's like a very complex, multi-variable mathematics problem that keeps changing minute-to-minute (the airplanes themselves have similar constratints on them too - so many hours between required maintenance checks, which are only available at certain airports, etc...)

The fact that the aviation system works as well as it does routinely is really quite amazing.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

A second crew is only on board for long flights that would exceed mandated flight/duty time limits in order for the crew to be adequately rested. These limits virtually never come into play for shorter domestic flights except in the event of delays. Have you ever sat on the tarmac for a long time (usually in the winter months)? Sometimes when you get to your destination the crews have "timed out" and a replacement crew will have to be brought on board to complete the flight from that point to its destination. The first crew is required to be "off duty" for a while until they've rested the required number of hours, at which point they can go back to work and fly another leg (or series of legs). These requirements and the unforeseen variability of weather conditions make life very interesting for airline operations guys - they need to constantly juggle these situations to keep the airline in compliance - it's like a very complex, multi-variable mathematics problem that keeps changing minute-to-minute (the airplanes themselves have similar constratints on them too - so many hours between required maintenance checks, which are only available at certain airports, etc...)

The fact that the aviation system works as well as it does routinely is really quite amazing.

[911Freak]

Originally Posted by TerryH

Looking at the clock, the plane should be on final approach about now. Why the urgency to report this death? I can understand letting the pilot's family know, but why alarm all the families of those still in the air? If it gets to the press a few hours later, would it make any difference? Yes, I realize the plane is in capable hands, but likely many of the families of those up there are worried needlessly.

Flight landed without further incident

Talking heads reporting that passengers were "allegedly" () texting their family and friends about the unfolding events during the flight, this prompted the calls to the FAA, TV stations etc.

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by 911Freak

Flight landed without further incident

Talking heads reporting that passengers were "allegedly" () texting their family and friends about the unfolding events during the flight, this prompted the calls to the FAA, TV stations etc.

Idiot passengers. The crew is dealing with a crisis, so let's break the rules, turn on our cell phones and possibly create additional issues..........

[911Freak]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

The fact that the aviation system works as well as it does routinely is really quite amazing.

+100

We fly quite often and having pilots and flight crew on both sides of our family have immense respect for how smoothly the flight crews handle day to day flight ops. Indubitably amazing

[adamred]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

Idiot passengers. The crew is dealing with a crisis, so let's break the rules, turn on our cell phones and possibly create additional issues..........

I was on a flight to Dallas last week, got an upgrade and was sitting in 1st class and was amazed at how many passengers were texting, emailing and even talking on the phone as we were heading down the runway towards wheels up.

It almost seemed as if the flight crew turned a blind eye to 1st class pax.

What is the deal with electronics do they really screw up the plane's electronics?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally Posted by 911Freak

Would this exam cover potential Hyper-tension, clogged arteries or other invisible threats that don't show up in normal blood tests?

ie how extensive/intrusive are these exams?

As a general rule they follow the requirements of 14 CFR Part 67 (here: http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgFAR.nsf/MainFrame?OpenFrameSet ).

Post age-35 they require an EKG (or EEG, whichever terminology you prefer). There is no specific battery of blood tests although if something were known in one's medical history or suspected, I imagine such tests would be done. They're just not routinely done. Urinalysis is done along with the basic eye/ear stuff, physical exam, etc.

At least this fellow died doing what he loved. And as a bonus, he checked out before having to land in New Jersey. Sorry for the bad joke, my thoughts with his family.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally Posted by 911Freak

Would this exam cover potential Hyper-tension, clogged arteries or other invisible threats that don't show up in normal blood tests?

ie how extensive/intrusive are these exams?

As a general rule they follow the requirements of 14 CFR Part 67 (here: http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgFAR.nsf/MainFrame?OpenFrameSet ).

Post age-35 they require an EKG (or EEG, whichever terminology you prefer). There is no specific battery of blood tests although if something were known in one's medical history or suspected, I imagine such tests would be done. They're just not routinely done. Urinalysis is done along with the basic eye/ear stuff, physical exam, etc.

At least this fellow died doing what he loved. And as a bonus, he checked out before having to land in New Jersey. Sorry for the bad joke, my thoughts with his family.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally Posted by 911Freak

Would this exam cover potential Hyper-tension, clogged arteries or other invisible threats that don't show up in normal blood tests?

ie how extensive/intrusive are these exams?

As a general rule they follow the requirements of 14 CFR Part 67 (here: http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgFAR.nsf/MainFrame?OpenFrameSet ).

Post age-35 they require an EKG (or EEG, whichever terminology you prefer). There is no specific battery of blood tests although if something were known in one's medical history or suspected, I imagine such tests would be done. They're just not routinely done. Urinalysis is done along with the basic eye/ear stuff, physical exam, etc.

At least this fellow died doing what he loved. And as a bonus, he checked out before having to land in New Jersey. Sorry for the bad joke (couldn't resist), my thoughts are with his family.

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by adamred

What is the deal with electronics do they really screw up the plane's electronics?

These are the folks that advise the FAA in on this issue. http://www.rtca.org/aboutrtca.asp

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Theoretically yes, however the chance of this is actually very low (there was a MythBusters on it).

The prohibitation has more to deal with overloading the communications networks on the ground than it does with navigational interference - at altitude you end up hitting quite a few "cells" simultaneously which strains the system. But to answer your question, yes it is theoretically possible to mess with nav signals.

[Jim Richards]

Mythbusters are not qualified to perform EMC analyses. Also, how many "9's" does FAA require to meet their mission of not losing airframes (and the people inside them)?